"Commander, may I speak freely?" Mac asked softly.

"Go ahead, Mac."

He held her eyes as he said firmly, "I consider it my responsibility-the responsibility of the entire team-to protect her not just physically, but from this kind of invasion as well. I know it's not completely possible to deny the press access to her, but dammit, this is something personal. The public has no right to know this. I don't want it to happen again."

"I don't know that we can stop it, Mac," Cam replied. Frustrated, she strafed her hair with a hand. "I'm not even sure I knowhow to stop it. But someone released this photograph, and I want to know who they are and how they got it. I want to know-" she hesitated, because the next words came hard. Harder than almost anything she had ever said. "I need to know if it came from one of us."

His blue eyes grew dark with pain, but he answered crisply. "Yes, ma'am. If I may, I'd like to look into this personally."

"That might not be looked upon favorably by DC," she warned.

"So noted."

"It's possible I may go down for this, Mac. If I do, I want you in the clear. I need you to take my place. Blair needs you."

"I would not want to be in Egret's path if anyone tries that, Commander."

She smiled. "No, it wouldn't be pretty. Just the same, if it comes to that, I want you to disavow any prior knowledge. We never had this conversation."

"Yes, ma'am."

"Thank you, Mac."

Chapter Eighteen

As Cam stood in the small carpeted foyer between the elevator and the broad oak door to Blair's apartment, she thought of the first time she had come there and how much had changed. She hadnt wanted the job, hadnt wanted a woman in her life, hadnt wanted to feel anything at all. Now all she cared about was on the other side of that door. She raised her hand to knock, but the door opened before her fist met wood.

"Good morning," Blair said.

She wore loose, white cotton drawstring pants and a matching ribbed tank top. Her hair was down and there was a dab of brilliant blue pigment just above her left breast.

"You've been working?" Cam asked. There were circles under her normally vibrant blue eyes, and Cam caught sight of something moving in their depths, something dark and wounded.

"Yes. What else? The antidote for every problem."

Cam stayed on the threshold, waiting to be invited in. "Did you sleep?"

"Some. Did you?"

"Some."

Blair pulled the door open wide and gesture with a sweep of her hand. "Come in. This shouldn't take too long, because I don't have much in the way of plans for the rest of the week. Especially not now."

"Fine." Cam followed her in and trailed behind her to the breakfast bar, puzzling over Blair's odd detachment. It was rare for them to be anywhere alone that Blair did not touch her, however fleetingly. The absence of that small gesture echoed hollowly in her chest.

Blair set out two mugs and poured coffee. She passed one to Cam and leaned her elbows on the counter, one hip edged up on a stool. "Have you heard anything from Washington?"

Cam shook her head, settling on the neighboring stool to face her. "I plan to call Carlisle when we're done here. What about you?"

"Lucinda called just after nine. She was in a rush, because my father was on his way to an economic summit meeting and she was briefing him in the car at the same time as she was talking to me. I believe her precise words were, "Tell me it's someone you can bring home to dinner."

"Huh," Cam snorted, wondering if she were. What would the President think? "Anything else?"

"Nope. She said she'd get back to me later. That could mean midnight."

"What are you going to tell her?"

"At the moment, I'm going to tell her it's nobody's business. Not even hers."

For the first time, Blair looked and sounded like herself. When she was angry, Cam was certain she was fine.

"I suppose at the moment, that makes sense," Cam said, nodding. She pushed the mug away and reached for Blair's hand, then stiffened when Blair eased back from the counter, just out of touching distance.

Silence fell and finally Cam asked quietly, "What's wrong?"

"Nothing."

"Something's happened."

"Are we done here? I'm in the middle of something."

"No, we'renot done. Not until you tell me what's happened between now and when we said goodnight eight hours ago." Cam slid off her seat and moved to Blairs side, lightly touching her bare arm with her fingertips. "Is it because I didn't come up with you last night?"

"No," Blair said abruptly, but she didn't move her arm away.

"I couldn't think what to do," Cam said as if she hadnt heard. "Sometimes, I can't seem to figure out who I am-whether I'm your lover or your security chief. When push comes to shove, I guess I'm more used to being your security chief. I'm sorry."

"Damn it, Cameron, that's not the problem." It almost hurt to hear Cam apologize for something Blair knew she couldn't help. "Can't you just finished this goddamned briefing and go do whatever the security chief part of you needs to do?"

Cam shook her head, smiling softly. "No. The security chief is finished. It's just your lover here now."

Blair drew a manila envelope from beneath the counter and handed it to Cam. "Then maybe you should tell me which one of you I ought to ask about this."

Perplexed, Cam studied the envelope which had Blair's name printed on it in black magic marker and no return address. No stamp either. "How did this arrive?"

"Courier."

For one heart-stopping moment, she thought she had been catapulted back in time and she was about to read yet another threatening message from Loverboy. Raising her eyes to Blair's, she asked quietly, "What is it?"

"Open it."

Carefully, Cam folded back the small gold clasps that held the flap closed and withdrew an eight by ten photograph. She stared at it, anger boiling in her chest. "Christ."

"The date stamp on the print is last night," Blair remarked with no inflection in her voice.

"Yes."

"I don't know what to do, Cam. I don't even know what this mea-"

"Blair, I don't know who she is."

Furious, Cam couldn't stop staring at the photograph of herself leaning toward a woman who appeared to be in whispering in her ear. The woman's hand was resting on hers. The shot was intimate, as if it had been taken during a private moment, an image stolen from a lover's tryst. It was the redhead from the evening before, and although only their faces were in focus, the grainy background was clearly the bar where she had gone for a drink.

"Last night after I left here, I went downtown-"

"You don't need to-"

"Yes, I goddamned welldo need to. We need to get something straight," Cam replied heatedly. "I haven't been with anyone else since before I was shot. I haven'twanted to be. I don't want anyone but you and I have no intention of being with anyone else. Not now, not ever."

"I feel ridiculous putting you in a position where you need to say that," Blair said, her tone somewhere between embarrassed and confused.

"Why?"

"Because I've never wanted anyone to say what you just said before."

"If it makes you feel any better, I've neversaid it to anyone before," Cam answered gently as she moved closer and slipped both arms around Blair's waist. They were facing one another, thighs touching, leaning back in the circle of one another's arms to look into each other's eyes. "I don't know what the hell is going on. I don't know why someone is trying to drive a wedge between us-if that's even what this is about. I can't imagine that our relationship is a threat to anyone."

At that, Blair laughed out loud. "Uh-visited the Bible Belt recently?"

"This isn't their style-the photograph in the newspaper, maybe. But even that's a stretch. You're the President's daughter, for god's sake. Even the right wingers aren't crazy enough to sling mud at you."

"Maybe. I'm sure this is only the beginning."

"I'm sorry you have to deal with this." Cam kissed her forehead, the feel of Blair's body in her arms easing the tightness in her chest that the photo had evoked.

"So-who is the bitch?" Blair asked abruptly, but there was a light dancing in her eyes that hadn't been there before.

Cam laughed. "I have no idea. I couldn't sleep last night-that seems to be a common theme when I'm not with you."

"I don't know why that makes me happy, either, but it does."

"Good."

"Hmm-I know what you do when you can't sleep, though," Blair remarked lightly, but her eyes were troubled again. Resting her cheek against Cam's shoulder, she kissed her neck above the collar of her pristine white shirt.

"Not to worry, remember?" Cam brushed a kiss into her hair, and continued, "At any rate, I was just sitting there, trying to get my thoughts in order, and she appeared out of nowhere. I wasn't really paying any attention and, I have to admit, I really don't know who else was in the bar with us. Obviously, someone was inside watching me and took the picture."

"Do you think she was trying to set you up for something?"

"I don't know. She could have been an innocent bystander and someone just took advantage of the moment. Whatis clear, though, is that I was tailed from here to the bar." She rested her chin on the top of Blair's head and sighed. "Some Secret Service Agent I've been this week. I let someone photograph you in a compromising position and now I've managed to get myself a tail that I didn't even see. Maybe itis time for me to retire."